Marcus Ericsson admits that it was painful to let teammate Pascal Wehrlein through into the points paying position last Sunday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Ericsson was instructed to let through Wehrlein, who was much faster, to give the team its best chance of scoring points.
Ericsson last finished inside the top 10 at the Italian Grand Prix of 201, 36 races ago. Sauber said they feared the threat of Stoffel Vandoorne coming towards them and decided to give the order. Wehrlein went on to claim his second points finish of the season.
"It was difficult to give it up because it has been a long time since I scored points, so it was hurting to let that position by but the team was giving me the order and I had to listen to them," Ericsson explained. "After I let him past I kept up the pace with him, I think I was like two seconds behind or something, just covered him from Vandoorne to help the team get points.
"It's good for the team to be in the points again but it's a bit painful for me not to be scoring them. We had a tough fight but after I kept positions it was good. I thought it was kind of over and I was going to pull away and then I got the call to let him switch positions to cover Vandoorne, so I had to listen to that. It was a shame because I thought I could have kept my place."
Fergal Walsh
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (2)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Feel sorry for him... 36 races without points??? Thats tough
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
He shouldn't have given that up particularly if he felt confident that Wherlein was not going to be overtaken by Vandoorne. Also because they were not fighting for points. There is probably some commotion internally that caused him to yield so quickly. Either way it reflects poorly on poor Ericsson. Wherlein still doesn't strike me as the future star everyone else seems to think he is. Certainly not on the same caliber as Ocon.